Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Book Review- Graceful

"Angelina D'Angelo has left town to see the world. It's now Grace's turn to use her magic to protect the people of Willow Falls, and she is up to the challenge. This is her destiny, after all. But destiny is a funny thing-it doesn't always behave the way you'd expect it to.

Mysterious postcards from Angelina begin showing up in the mail, Grace's parents are freaking out with worry, and something BIG is coming to town that will affect everybody who lives there. But all Grace is powerful enough to do is turn leftover meatloaf into pizza.

Fortunately, she's not alone. She has Team Grace on her side! Amanda, Leo, Rory, Tara, David, and Connor know a thing or two about magic and how it works. But none of them are prepared for what's coming, and none of them know how to stop it. Life in Willow Falls is about to change forever."

I finally did it, guys. I read Graceful.

Now, before I rant about this book, a quick bit of background info- Graceful is the fifth and final book in the Willow Falls series by Wendy Mass. Originally, the series was supposed to conclude after the fourth book, but Wendy decided to write a fifth one- and I'm so glad that she did! I can't remember exactly when I first picked up the Willow Falls series, it was probably in 2012. I just remember totally falling in love with the books. When I heard that a fifth book was coming out, I nearly died of excitement! I waited and waited for my library to order it, and was the first person to snatch up a copy! I slightly postponed reading it, mainly because I didn't want the series to end. "Finally" (ha...Willow Falls pun...), on the way back from New York on Tuesday, I read Graceful.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. At first, I was a bit apprehensive. The Last Present ended well, and let's face it- sometimes a series will be great, until the last book ruins it. That wasn't the case with this book. The first half of it really worried me- it wasn't going the way that I thought it would, and it was a shorter book than the others had been. But around midway through, it really started to pick up, and I couldn't have asked for a better ending. It was very bittersweet, not only because it was the last book, but because of how it ended, but it was perfect. My sister can testify that I was basically losing it by the end.

One of the things that I really loved about Graceful was how it swapped POV constantly. Now sometimes, this isn't a good thing- it gets confusing, the storyline is harder to follow, etc. That wasn't the case in this book. Everything tied together perfectly. I also loved getting to hear from the other characters, because many of them had been main characters in previous books. They're kind of like my babies, so I loved to hear from each of them individually one last time.

For longtime readers, it's great to see how the character's lives turn out, and the different paths that they're each going down. I would definitely recommend reading the first four books first, otherwise Graceful will be EXTREMELY confusing. This is a series that you absolutely have to read in order. I actually made the mistake of reading the second book first, because I didn't know that it was a series, and that was pretty confusing. So, go and read the other four first. But please, just read this series. Trust me, you won't regret it.